Ryan Williamson was appointed Principal Horn of the Rockford Symphony Orchestra in September 2025. Ryan served as a Regular Member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago from 2022-2024, and has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra, New York City Ballet Orchestra, and Sarasota Orchestra. During the 2024-25 season, he was Acting Second Horn of the Phoenix Symphony. A consummate chamber musician, Ryan was a participant at the Marlboro Music Festival for three summer seasons (2022, 2024, 2025), and recently performed as part of the esteemed Chamber Music at McKnight series in Stillwater, OK alongside artistic director and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott. During his four years at The Juilliard School, Ryan was a member of brass quintet Brass22, who attended the ABQ@Aspen Seminar in 2021 as a fellowship ensemble, working side-by-side with their mentors in the American Brass Quintet. In October 2021, Ryan also gave the world premiere performance of Dana Dimitri Richardson’s Sonata for Horn and Piano with pianist Craig Ketter.

In addition to the modern horn, Ryan has performed on both classical and baroque historical horns, having taken secondary lessons on natural horn with Todd Williams at The Juilliard School. Ryan has worked extensively with Juilliard’s historical performance ensemble, Juilliard415, performing symphonies of CPE Bach with the ensemble in Cambridge, MA and touring Germany alongside Yale Schola Cantorum with Joseph Haydn’s Creation Mass (Schöpfungsmesse). Ryan completed his undergraduate studies at The Juilliard School and received a Master’s degree from Northwestern University. His major teachers include Gail Williams, Jonathan Boen, Julie Landsman, and Daniel Gingrich. He lives in Chicago, IL.

Umi Garrett is a highly accomplished solo and chamber pianist, having performed numerous solo and chamber recitals in the United States and internationally. Most recently, she performed at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall as part of the Elysian Trio with Stephen Williamson and John Sharp, performing a program of clarinet trios, and performed a solo recital at the Dame Myra Hess Series. She has performed regularly through presenters such as the Clark Art Institute, CSO Chamber Music, and the Chopin Foundation of the United States. Umi has performed and toured with orchestras such as the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony and Pops, Symphony Boca Raton, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Wuhan Symphony Orchestra, and the New Mexico Philharmonic. Umi has released three solo albums and released a debut chamber album in 2024 of the complete Beethoven Cello Sonatas under PARMA Recordings. Umi is a recent graduate of the Artist Diploma program at the Juilliard School, where she received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees under the tutelage of Hung-Kuan Chen, Shai Wosner, and Matti Raekallio. Umi is a Young Steinway Artist.